In terms of Western science, Kiteman is correct to cite Ibn al-Haytham. He developed the same hypothesis-testing model of the "Scientific Method" as Francis Bacon, more than half a millenium earlier.

I'm not sure I would count the Aristotelians as "scientists" in the modern sense -- they forumulated many of their theories on philosophical and logical principles, rather than by induction from observation. They also didn't put as much stock in testing their theories against reality as we do.

It is well known that Chinese technological developments predated comparable work in Europe by many centuries. However, those developments were essentially empirical, with no systematic theoretical background or "philosophy of science." As is noted in the Wikipedia article, the Taoist philosophy of complexity may have significantly "repressed" (not deliberately, just by existing) the formulation of a hypothesis-testing "scientific method" in China.